Tonight we went on a cruise down the Pearl River, which is the 3rd longest river in China, according to our tour guide. We had a great time, although the weather wasn't the greatest. In the basement of the boat, there was a museum. The vase in the above picture was there with the description in the picture below it. Some things definitely get lost in translation here!!!!
Monday
Jacinda started being fussy today. We're not sure if it was because of the shots or if she's just adjusting to us. We went to a huge park in the morning and it was beautiful, but very hot.
Today was the day that both Aaron and I really got homesick. We're ready to be in our own house, cook our own food, sleep in our own bed, have ice in our drinks, and see Luke! We're also ready to introduce Jacinda to the rest of her family!!!!
Jacinda is really starting to show her personality to us. She's from the Hunan province, and the girls from that province are known as spicy girls. She certainly is spicy! When we take something away that she can't have, like a cord, or something sharp, she stomps her little feet, crumples up her face and cries. It's actually really cute, and we have to try not to laugh!
She is also continuing to warm up to Aaron, but still on her own terms. She'll play with him, but will rarely let him carry her. When she does, it's only for a few minutes. But we're getting there.
Tuesday
We did a little shopping today, but it started to rain. This afternoon, we did some group pictures with all the families from our adoption agency.
Tonight, we're going on a river cruise with all the families. It will be pretty late when we get back, so we'll blog about it tomorrow.
Tomorrow, we head to the US Consulate to do some paperwork.
We slept in this morning, which was nice! Then we did a little shopping here on the island. The shop owners are all really nice. We bought a few little things, but are still shopping around for the bigger things we want to get.
This afternoon, we went to a couple of jewelry markets. We bought a few little things. We just really wanted to get out and see the markets. It was fun, but we were so tired and hot by the time we got finished!
Tonight, we went to a German restaurant. We've never eaten German food before, but it was really good. It was funny, because the song Walk Like an Egyptian was playing while we were eating! So we're listening to Walk Like an Egyptian while eating German food in China!!!!! Too funny!
We made it here late last night. Jacinda was a champ on the flight!!!!! She did great. There was no food to be found in the Changsha airport, so by the time we got to our hotel in Guangzhou, it was 11 pm, and all 3 of us were SO hungry and thirsty. So we took a couple minutes walk to a 7-Eleven. However, this 7-Eleven was about 1/3 of the size of 7-Elevens in the US. There were about 30 people crammed in there and it was crazy. So dinner was Ritz crackers and Coke at 11:30 PM.
We're here for a week. This is where we do the US side of the paperwork. Jacinda is legally ours, but we can't bring her into the US until we get her Visa, which will happen this coming Friday.
So this morning was very drama-filled. Our group has 14 families and things were CRAZY today. We met at 9:30 to go get photos taken which will be used for the Visas. Then we all went to the International Clinic. The kids have to have a medical exam. Jacinda did great for everything except when they measured how tall she was. It was all so chaotic, that I didn't even see how much she weighed or how tall she was. Everything was fine and then she had to get shots. We had to wait for about 1 ½ hours while they determined what shots she needed and while everyone who arrived for the shots after us got called back to get the shots before us.
I'm not trying to start a debate about vaccinations, but Aaron and I are both really upset at the way vaxes are handled in our country. With Luke, we delayed some vaxes until we were comfortable with his development and his age. Well, with Jacinda, we don't get that luxury. With the older immigration process, adopted kids don't need vaxes until they get to the US. With the newer process (lucky us), the kids have to get vaxes before they can come into the US. There is legislation being worked on to fix this, but it's not there yet.
Jacinda had to get 6 shots today. Yes, I said 6. We have several problems with this. First, we've built up some trust with her, and now we both have to hold her down while the nurse takes 15 minutes to give her 6 shots. It was torture for all 3 of us.
Second, 6 shots is TOO MANY for a little body to handle. It just is. It makes us angry that our country requires the kids to have that many shots so quickly. It's bad enough that we have such an aggressive schedule for newborns. But now my little one has all kinds of medicines in her tiny little body and who knows what effect it will have on her.
After that, Jacinda slept for 4 hours. Aaron went to do some of our paperwork while I stayed with Jacinda. We're both still pretty steamed about the whole situation. Needless to say, she won't be getting any more for a very long time. I'll be staying home, so there's no need to get them for school or anything for a while.
We went to an Italian restaurant tonight with another family that we've made friends with. They have a little girl who is turning 3 soon, and the little boy they're adopting has a cleft lip and palate like Jacinda. So that was fun, but dinner with 3 little kids was a lot for all of us to handle after the day we've had!!!!!
Tomorrow we're taking a trip to a Jade and Pearl Market. Should be interesting!!!
Fairly boring day today. We spent most of the day organizing and packing all of our junk. We met our guide this morning at the last minute because she managed to get Jacinda's passport and all of our paperwork early. So we have all the important stuff. Now we're just waiting around until 5:30 when we check out and head to the airport.
So a few things we wanted to mention …….
Jacinda has been soooo cute today. She has been walking around the room playing and singing! It's the cutest thing! She also kissed us both for the first time today. She puckers up and her whole face scrunches up!
One thing we haven't mentioned is that she's pretty close to being completely potty-trained!!!!!!! They do that pretty young here. Works for us!
We may not get a chance to post tonight when we get to Guangzhou because it will be pretty late.
Jacinda was feeling much better today, so we ventured out for a while this morning. Our guide took us to an Embroidery shop. The Hunan province is famous for embroidery. It was amazing! They use silk threads to embroider pictures. It's unbelievable!!!!! We saw some amazing pieces of art. They said some of the pieces take several women years to finish!
Then we walked around a HUGE park for a while. After that, we visited a historic university. The buildings were beautiful.
Jacinda is getting more and more comfortable with us each day. She actually let Aaron hold and carry her for a few minutes this morning! She's taking longer to warm up to him, but we're getting there.
We have most of the day here tomorrow to hang out and wait. Our guide will be busy doing all of our paperwork. We will check out of our hotel at 5 pm, and go pick up Jacinda's passport on the way to the airport. Our next stop is Guangzhou, which is where we do all the US paperwork. We'll be there for just about a week. We arrive home Saturday night, 10/24/09.
So. Do you want to hear some crazy stuff? We're not sure Jacinda could be any more like Luke if they were biologically related. Examples:
- They both LOVE blankets. We gave Jacinda one as soon as she came into our room and she crumpled it up and put it to her face EXACTLY like Luke does. She hasn't let go of the blanket since she got here.
- They are both great eaters. She will eat anything we put in front of her.
- They both move around a lot when they're sleeping. Also, they both take FOREVER to really wake up.
- Huge, brown eyes with long eyelashes.
Every day we find more and more things and it's kind of eerie. If we had any doubts as to whether she was the right one for our family, we certainly don't now!
A funny story …. She loves to imitate us. So tonight we were at the hotel restaurant for dinner. When the basket of bread came, she snagged a roll before the basket hit the table. While she started eating her roll, I was putting butter on mine. She then grabbed a knife and started trying to put butter on her roll! It was too funny!!!!
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